Habitat selection by anurofauna community at rocky seashore in coastal Atlantic Forest, Southeastern Brazil

coastal Atlantic Forest, Southeastern Brazil

Pontes

*, RC., Santori

, RT., Gonçalves e Cunha

, FC. and Pontes

, JAL.

São Cristóvão, CEP 20940-040 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil b

Departamento de Ciências, Faculdade de Formação de Professores, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Dr. Francisco Portela, 1470, Patronato, CEP 24435-000, São Gonçalo, RJ, Brasil

c_{Laboratório de Ecologia de Vertebrados, IBRAG/Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro,} Rua São Francisco Xavier, 524, Maracanã, CEP 20550-011, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

*e-mail: rafaelcunhapontes@hotmail.com

Received June 13, 2012 – Accepted September 20, 2012 – Distributed August 31, 2013 (With 3 figures)

Abstract

Rocky seashores are low granitic hills distributed along the southeastern Brazilian coast with xeric-like vegetation due to the shallow soil. Knowledge on amphibian communities and their reproductive patterns is especially reduced on this kind of environment. Herein, we present a framework of two years monitoring an amphibian community at a rocky sea-shore environment located at the protected area of Parque Estadual da Serra da Tiririca, municipality of Niterói, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We conducted diurnal and nocturnal searches for frogs in tank bromeliads, rocky surface and shrubby vegetation. Annual pattern of breeding activity of anurans was also estimated. Individuals of the most abun-dant tank-bromeliad, Alcantarea glaziouana were collected and measured according to several variables to under-standing the selection of bromeliads by frogs. We checked the influence of the environmental conditions on amphibian abundance, association between the bromeliads measures, and the water storage in the tank. We recorded the species: Scinax aff. x-signatus; S. cuspidatus; S. littoreus; Thoropa miliaris and Gastrotheca sp. Bromeliads were the preferen-tial habitat used by anurans. The nocturnal habit was predominant for all species and during diurnal searches, the speci-mens were found sheltered in bromeliads axils. The number of calling males as well as amphibian abundance was associated with the rainiest and warmest period of the year. The species S. littoreus was observed in breeding activity in the majority of sample period. Adult calling males of T. miliaris were observed especially in the rainy season. Rainfall and temperature combined are positively correlated to the total number of captured amphibians. However, individu-ally, rainfall was not significantly correlated, while temperature was positively correlated with the amphibian abun-dance. Water storage capacity by bromeliads was correlated to characteristics and size of the plant. In the rainy season, the height of the plant and the diameter on top view were correlated with the occurrence of amphibians, while during the driest period there was no correlation among variables and the bromeliad usage by amphibians. Recorded species were strongly associated to the Atlantic Forest domain. Nevertheless, the occupation of rocky seashores by anurans may be more associated with the specialized reproductive modes presented by species, since there is no permanent wa-ter available in ponds or streams.

Keywords: Alcantarea glaziouana, bromeliacea, climatic variables, inselbergs, Serra da Tiririca.

Seleção de hábitat por uma comunidade de anuros em um costão rochoso na Mata

Atlântica costeira, sudeste do Brasil

Resumo

Costões rochosos são morros graníticos distribuídos ao longo da costa do sudeste brasileiro, com vegetação xero-mórfica devido ao seu solo raso. O conhecimento sobre comunidades de anfíbios e seus padrões reprodutivos é especialmente reduzido neste tipo de ambiente. Neste estudo, nós apresentamos os resultados de dois anos de monitoramento de uma comunidade de anfíbios em um costão rochoso localizado na área protegida do Parque Estadual da Serra da Tiririca, município de Niterói, estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Nós fizemos buscas diurnas e noturnas para encontrar anuros em bromélias-tanque, superfície rochosa e vegetação arbustiva. O padrão anual de atividade reprodutiva também foi estimado. Indivíduos da bromélia-tanque mais abundante no local, Alcantarea glaziouana, foram coletados e tiveram diversas variáveis mensuradas a fim de se entender a seleção de bromélias por anuros. Verificamos a influência das condições ambientais sobre a abundância dos anfíbios, e a associação entre as medidas

que durante o período seco não existiu correlação entre variáveis e o uso da bromélia pelos anfíbios. As espécies registradas estão fortemente associadas ao domínio da Floresta Atlântica. Entretanto, a ocupação dos costões rochosos por anuros pode estar mais associado com modos reprodutivos especializados apresentados pelas espécies, já que não existem riachos ou poças d’água permanentes disponíveis no local.

Palavras-chave: Alcantarea glaziouana, bromeliácea, variáveis climáticas, inselbergs, Serra da Tiririca.

1. Introduction

The Atlantic Forest biome originally corresponds to a narrow strip along the Brazilian east coast covering about 1.1 million km2including adjacent areas of Ar-gentina and Paraguay (Mori, 1981; Myers et al., 2000; Mittermeier et al., 2005). This biome presents a wide variety of vegetation, topography and climate condi-tions (Rizzini, 1979; Veloso et al., 1991; Morellato and Haddad, 2000).

Despite this variety, studies on amphibian communi-ties in this biome have been unbalanced in their ap-proaches, field methods, meticulousness, and research designs (e.g., Bernarde et al., 1999; Giaretta et al., 1999; Eterovick and Sazima, 2000). Studies have being done focused mainly in lentic habitats (e.g. Pombal, 1997; Vasconcelos and Rossa-Feres, 2005), forested areas (e.g., Almeida-Gomes et al., 2008; Salles et al., 2009; Siqueira et al., 2009; Silva-Soares et al., 2010) and, more recently, in restinga formations (e.g., Schneider and Tei-xeira, 2001; Van Sluys et al., 2004; Rocha et al., 2008; Silva et al., 2008).

Notwithstanding, our knowledge on amphibian com-munities and their reproductive patterns in Atlantic For-est are reduced (Bertoluci, 1998), especially on rocky seashores. These formations are distributed along south-eastern coast of Brazil at latitudes of Rio de Janeiro state and are composed by low rounded granitic hills (insel-bergs) with xeric-like vegetation, bromeliads and cac-tuses. It generally sinks directly into the ocean or presents a narrow lowland area separating it from de coast (Pon-tes, 1987; Veloso et al., 1991; Ab’Saber, 2003; Barros, 2008). Studies conducted at these formations are limited to species lists lacking data on ecology or natural history in a more complex context (Santos and Sylvestre, 2006; Alves-Silva and Silva, 2009). Herein, we present the re-sults of two years survey assaying the influence of envi-ronmental conditions, microhabitat usage and

seasonality on anurofauna at Pedra de Itacoatiara, a rocky seashore in Southeastern coast of Brazil.

2. Material and Methods

2.1. Study area

The study was conducted at Pedra de Itacoatiara rocky seashore (22°58’39.56” S; 43°01’ 39.93” W; SAD 69) located at the oceanic portion of Niterói municipality, Rio de Janeiro state, Southeastern Brazil (Figure 1). The area is a low rounded granitic hill (218 m a.s.l.) where the accumulation of organic material allows the presence of sparse vegetation (xeric-like) and bryophytes due the shallow soil (Barros and Seoane, 1999). Shrub vegetation composed by bushes, bromeliads, orchids and cactuses are also part of this landscape, although it is dominated by exposed rocks (Pontes, 1987; Santos and Sylvestre, 2006). The study area is inserted in a protected area named Parque Estadual da Serra da Tiririca (PESET) with 2262 ha.

The climate is Aw (Bernardes, 1952), being hot and humid having a dry and a rainy season with annual aver-age temperature ranging from 22 °C to 23 °C (Coelho, 1988; Barbiére and Coe-Neto, 1999; Kottek et al., 2006) and reaching the maximum of 50 °C on exposed rocks during the day (Pontes, 1987). The dry season corre-sponds the months from May to June and the rainy season begins in September, reaching the highest rainfall aver-ages during the months of December and January with annual average of 2137.5 mm (Nimer, 1989; Barbiére and Coe-Neto, 1999; INMET, 2011).

2.2. Data collection

Fieldwork was conducted from August 2008 to July 2010 almost monthly. Visual encounter survey (VES) (Crump and Scott, 1994) was used as sampling method with diurnal and nocturnal searches. Diurnal searches were divided into two periods: matutinal transect (8:00 am to 10:00 am) and crepuscular transects (3:00 pm to

5:00 pm). During the diurnal period, a team of three re-searchers investigated tank-bromeliads on the ground, rocky surfaces or cracks and in shrubby vegetation seek-ing for sheltered amphibians. We performed 140 man/hours of diurnal sampling effort being 70 man/hours in the matutinal period and 70 man/hours in the crepuscular period). During the night (6:00 pm to midnight) the same researchers looked for amphibians in aforementioned microhabitats. Each night resulted in 12 man/hours of sampling effort, totaling 144 man/hours of nocturnal searches. The combined sampling effort per-formed, including diurnal and nocturnal searches, totaled 18 field expeditions and 284 man/hours.

The microhabitat usage was assessed for all observed frogs. Assuming the heterogeneity of the study area, the habitat was divided into categories: tank-bromeliads, rocky surface and shrubby vegetation. After spotted, each amphibian was captured manually and kept in plas-tic bags with moist leaf or water. To avoid the individuals recount, captured frogs during transects were released nearby the same area at the end of the day or transported to the laboratory, as voucher specimens, where they were euthanized and fixed according to the standard methods (McDiarmid, 1994).

To determine annual patterns of breeding activity of anurans, we estimated the number of calling males dur-ing the night, followdur-ing the classes proposed by Bertoluci (1998) at the whole study site: (1) 1-2 ind., (2) 3-5 ind.,

(3) 6-10 ind., (4) 11-20 ind., (5) 21-50 ind. and (6) more than 50 ind.. Amplectant pairs, egg clutches and gravid females were also recorded as breeding evidence (Berto-luci, 1998).

To understanding the selection of bromeliads by frogs, forty eight specimens of the most abundant tank-bromeliad Alcantarea glaziouana (Lemaire) Leme were collected and investigated (24 during the rainy and 24 in the dry season). The collected bromeliads varied widely in size and were measured according to several variables. Prior to collection, we took the following measures in field: (1) major diameter on top view and (MDTV); (2) maximum height of the plant (MH). After collecting field data, these bromeliads were kept in a plastic bag and transported to the laboratory where we measured: (3) ma-jor width of the leaf (MWL); (4) number of green leaves (NGL); (5) maximum depth of water tank (MDWT); (6) volume of water in the tank (VWT); (7) maximum stor-age capacity of the water tank (MSWT); (8) wet weight (WW) and (9) dry weight (DW). We used a 200 cm metal ruler (precision of 0.5 cm) to length measures and a 2000 mL graduated cylinder (precision of 1.0 mL) to measure water volume. Maximum water volume stored by a bromeliad was measured by filling the tank of the specimen with water, using a graduated cylinder, till wa-ter began to overflow. Afwa-ter, we removed carefully the leaves and collected all animals inside; we measured wet and dry weight of the bromeliads using a digital scale

Figure 1 - Location of study area Pedra de Itacoatiara, Niterói, RJ, Southeastern Brazil. Dotted white lines mark transects and

proc. E07/300039/2005).

In order to complement our survey, we assessed in-formation of environmental conditions. Air temperature was measured at the beginning and at the end of transects with a thermometer (precision of 0.2 °C) being consid-ered the average between both. Data on rainfall were ob-tained from a meteorological station belonging to Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) at Forte de Copacabana, municipality of Rio de Janeiro. This station is distant about 10 km from the study area (22°57’06.9” S; 43°11’55.8” W; SAD 69), thus exposed to similar cli-matic conditions (Figure 2).

2.3. Data analysis

Simple linear regression analysis was performed to compare how similar were the sample period and avail-able data on climatic conditions of the previous decades (1961 to 2007). To check the influence of the environ-mental conditions on amphibian abundance we used mul-tiple regression including environmental variables (tem-perature and rainfall averages), abundances per species and total abundance (Zar, 1999).

1999). 3. Results

Our survey revealed the presence of only five species of anurans in the rocky seashore. It resulted in collec-tion/observation of 416 individuals. Hylidae was the most representative family (Scinax aff. x-signatus; S. cuspidatus Lutz, 1925 and S. littoreus Peixoto, 1988) fol-lowed by Cycloramphidae (Thoropa miliaris Spix, 1824) and Hemiphractidae (Gastrotheca sp.). During the study (including night and day transects) the amphibian abun-dance recorded was 1.7 ind./h. Scinax littoreus was the most abundant species (N = 299 or 72%), followed by T. miliaris (N = 107 or 25.8%); S. cuspidatus (N = 8 or 2%), Gastrotheca sp. and S. aff. x-signatus (both with N = 1 or 0.2%).

According to chi-square tests, bromeliads were the preferential habitat used by anurans (N = 306 or 73.6%) (c2_{= 33.97; p = 0.05; df = 1 for bromeliads x}

rocky surfaces andc2= 105.9; p = 0.05; df = 1 bromeli-ads x shrubby vegetation). The matrix composed by exposed rocks and bryophytes was the second most

Table 1 - Bromeliads (Alcantarea glaziouana) variables gathered at Pedra de Itacoatiara: MDTV (major diameter on top

view); MH (maximum height of the plant); MWL (major width of the leaf); NGL (number of green leaves); MDWT (maxi-mum depth of water tank); VWT (volume of water in the tank); MSWT (maxi(maxi-mum storage capacity of the water tank); WW (wet weight) and DW (dry weight).

Bromeliads measures Seasons

Wet Dry

Mean / SD Max Min Mean / SD Max Min

MDTV (cm) 66.2± 28.3 130 30 67.2± 20.3 122 40 MH (cm) 63.8± 17.6 97 37 65.1± 17.7 135 43 MWL (cm) 14.4± 4.1 25 7.5 14± 3.3 21 9 NGL 41.1± 16.5 76 16 35.5± 15.9 95 17 MDWT (cm) 15.4± 3.9 22 7 15.1± 3.4 23 9 VWT (mL) 672.5± 1161.2 4400 0 664.2± 574.1 2200 40 MSWT (mL) 3087.2± 2389.7 9000 380 2791.52019.6 7300 675 WW (g) 1435.4± 1200.8 4449.3 166.1 1591.1± 989.5 4243 441 DW (g) 229.9± 220.1 754.1 27.8 207.1± 168.1 767.5 45.8

used habitat (N = 98 or 23.6%) and shrubby vegetation was the less microhabitat used by amphibians (N = 12 or 2.9%).

The nocturnal habit was predominant for all species and the individuals were observed mostly during crepus-cular or nocturnal searches (N = 372 or 89.4%). At night, most of amphibians were observed on bromeliads leaves (N = 281 or 67.5%), on the surface of the exposed rock (N = 89 or 21.4%) and in the sparse leaf-litter in the shrub vegetation (N = 12 or 2.9%). During diurnal searches the specimens were found sheltered in bromeliads axils (N = 36 or 81.8%), in rocky burrows (N = 6 or 13.6%) or in shrubby vegetation (N = 2 or 4.5%).

Males started to vocalize soon after the sunset and the number of calling males increased during the night. Around 8:00 pm the chorus reached the peak of active males and decreases around 11:00 pm, ceasing up around midnight. The number of calling males as well as am-phibian abundance was associated with the rainiest and warmest period of the year. Occasionally, specimens of

S. littoreus were observed vocalizing from bromeliads during cloudy and rainy days (N = 8), especially in the wet season (Figure 3).

Regarding the seasonality, the data allowed us to make inferences on reproductive patterns of S. littoreus and T. miliaris. The species S. littoreus was observed in breeding activity in the majority of sample period. Adult males were found vocalizing from tank-bromeliad leaves (A. glaziouana) from August to May. Tadpoles and amplectant pairs were observed mostly during the peak of rainy season (October to March) only inside of tank-bromeliad A. glaziouana. Adult calling males of T. miliaris were observed especially in the rainy season (September to May). Tadpoles and gravid females were observed during the peak of the rainy season (December to February). During the driest months (June to August) any adult or tadpole of T. miliaris was found. Amplectant pairs were not observed for this species during the sample period (Figure 3).

Figure 2 - Environmental data gathered at Pedra de Itacoatiara, Niterói, RJ, Southearten Brazil during the studied period. Leg -end: Solid black line with triangles: temperature (°C); solid dark gray bars: rainfall averages (mm3).

Figure 3 - Amphibian abundance recorded at Pedra de Itacoatiara, Niterói, RJ, Southeastern Brazil from August 2008 to July

2010. Legend: Black bars: Scinax littoreus; White bars: Thoropa miliaris; Dark Gray bars: Scinax cuspidatus; Light gray bars: Scinax aff. x-signatus and White bar with black dots: Gastrotheca sp. Numbers represents the classes of calling males and asterics represent recorded breeding evidence.

At the rainy season, bromeliad collected in the field presented mean water volume of 672.5± 1161.2 mL, with a maximum of 4400 mL. During the dry season the mean of this variable was 664.3± 574.1 mL, with a maxi-mum of 2200 mL. The maximaxi-mum storage capacity of the water tank in the dry season was correlated to the height of the plant (F5, 18= 16.2; p < 0.05) and the major width of

the leaf (F5, 18= 16.2; p < 0.01). Unlike what was

ob-served during the rainy season, the number of green leaves was associated to the maximum water storage in the plant (F4, 19= 46.8; p < 0.01).

Regarding the amphibian abundance, A. glaziouana presented 0.5 ind./plant in the rainy season and 0.9 ind./plant during the dry season. The number of occu-pied bromeliads by frogs (N = 17 or 35.4%) was not sta-tistical significant when compared to vacant bromeliads (N = 31 or 64.6%) (c2= 3.34; p = 0.05; df = 1). Multiple regressions analysis revealed that in the rainy season the height of the plant (F5,18= 6.8; p < 0.05) and the diameter

on top view (F5,18= 6.8; p < 0.05) were correlated with

the occurrence of amphibians inside of bromeliads. The same analysis indicated that during the driest period there is no correlation among variables and the bromeliad us-age by amphibians.

4. Discussion

The community structure and species composition on rocky seashores, in general, differ from the surrounding forested areas (Meirelles et al., 1999; Porembski and Barthlott, 2000; Santos and Sylvestre, 2006). Similarly, the anurofauna that inhabits the rocky seashores is differ-ent from those found at the lowland surrounding areas (RC Pontes personal observation). Comparing our data with other reported anurofauna on bromeliads from closer sites, the studied area present low species similar-ity with restinga of Maricá (Silva et al., 1988, 2011), nearby 16 km from our study site. However, the species composition at restinga environments is more similar to lowland ombrophilous areas due to their proximity (Car-valho-e-Silva et al., 2000). Probably, amphibian compo-sition observed at rocky seashore is more similar to isolated marine and coastal granitic island. Such habitats, resembles rocky seashores environments presenting large areas of exposed rocks, bromeliads fields and sparse vegetation where several species of Hylidae and Cycloramphidae were recently described (e.g., Brasileiro

presence of adhesive discs allowing the occupation of vertical strata by different species, mainly in lentic habi-tats (Cardoso et al., 1989; Pombal, 1997; Prado and Pombal, 2005). However, the occupation of rocky sea-shores by anurans may be more associated with the spe-cialized reproductive modes presented by species, since there is no permanent water available in ponds or streams. Scinax littoreus is a bromeligenous species (sensu Peixoto, 1995) and have their whole complex life cycle associated to the bromeliads (Alves-Silva and Silva, 2009). Also, the species T. miliaris is adapted to breed in temporary water films that flow over the rocks after rains where it tadpole grows and metamorphoses into a froglet (Giaretta and Facure, 2004; Haddad and Prado, 2005). Thus, these species reduced the depend-ence of great water collections for reproduction. On the other hand, other species reported here for rocky sea-shore are considered as bromelicolous species (sensu Peixoto, 1995), using these plants as diurnal shelter only, once their reproduction (probably except for Gastrotheca sp.) is associated to swampy areas.

Among vertebrates, anurans are the most commonly taxa found in association with bromeliads (Rocha et al., 2004). These plants are important for these organisms, especially in areas under hydric stress (e.g., restingas, rocky seashores), used as shelter or breeding site (Leh-tinen et al., 2004; Silva et al., 2011). Due to the lack of water bodies at rocky seashore, bromeliads proved to be important habitats for amphibians. Silva et al. (2011) re-ported S. cuspidatus and S. littoreus using bromeliads in restinga de Maricá, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Bromeli-ad usage by Bromeli-adult specimens of T. miliaris was also re-ported in rocky outcrop in Atlantic Forest of Minas Ge-rais state (Lacerda et al., 2009) and Espiríto Santo state (Teixeira et al., 2006; Teixeira and Rödder, 2007). De-spite these records, T. miliaris still considered as a bro-melicolous species since no tadpoles or egg clutch were found inside bromeliads. So far, only a few studies have been published on amphibians using bromeliads, how-ever most of these studies were descriptive and focused in restinga formations (e.g., Silva et al., 1988; Teixeira et al., 1997; Silva et al., 2011) or Atlantic Forest areas (Schneider and Teixeira, 2001; Pertel et al., 2006; La-cerda et al., 2009). Thus, we lack information on amphib-ians from rocky seashores for comparisons.

The matrix composed by exposed rocky surfaces and sparse leaf litter in shrubby vegetation is the most

com-mon habitat at Pedra de Itacoatiara, although it was used frequently only by T. miliaris. This species is being com-monly associated to these types of habitats (Rocha et al., 2002; Giaretta and Facure, 2004). Sparse vegetation composed by shrubs and small trees was the less used microhabitat by amphibians. Considering the high tem-peratures and the direct incidence of sun during the day, such habitats may not figure as the most suitable for am-phibians, being used sporadically.

Considering the total number of anurans per bromeli-ad, our results were similar to those reported by Silva et al. (2011) (1.04 ind./plant) for restinga de Maricá. Among the surveyed bromeliads 35.4% were occupied by anurans and 64.6% were vacant, which represents a lower density of anurans than observed for restinga de Maricá (42.0% occupied and 58.0% vacant). Neverthe-less, we attribute the higher species richness and amphib-ian density per bromeliad at restinga de Maricá due to the presence of a variety of habitats (e.g., temporary ponds) unlike the surveyed area in the present study. Those habi-tats are used by many specimens of anurans for reproduc-tion (Almeida-Gomes et al., 2010) and during the day or the driest months such anurans could shelter inside bro-meliads.

Several species of Scinax perpusillus species group are selective in the choice of bromeliad for reproduction (Oliveira and Novaes, 2004; Alves-Silva and Silva, 2009; Silva et al., 2011; Silva and Alves-Silva, 2011). At restinga of Maricá municipality (distant ca 16 km) the species S. littoreus was cited as occasional (Silva et al., 2011). Notwithstanding, this species was ranked as the most abundant during the sample period in our study area. Moreover, Neoregelia cruenta (Grahan) L.B. Smith is the predominant bromeliad at Maricá restinga and probably the experienced conditions in this bromeliad at this site does not figure as suitable for laying eggs by this frog (Silva et al., 2011). At Pedra de Itacoatiara, a large population of tank-bromeliad A. glaziouana is estab-lished (Barbará et al., 2009) (misnamed as A. imperialis by Alves-Silva and Silva, 2009 and Silva et al., 2011) and these plants could storage large amounts of water during the whole year. The water storage capacity, associated with chemical conditions of the water probably plays an important role in the choice of the plants by these frogs (Silva et al., 2011), whereas several individuals of N. cruenta and Vriesea neoglutinosa Mez. were also ob-served at study site but no individual of S. littoreus was observed using this species as breeding site.

At boreal and austral zones the seasonality is strongly marked and temperature is an important abiotic factor on the amphibian reproduction (Duellman and Trueb, 1994; Pombal, 1997). Unlike, at Neotropical sites seasonality is less marked (Crump, 1974) and the rainfall rates plays the major role on amphibian reproduction (Cardoso and Martins, 1987; Pombal, 1997). On rocky seashores, due to the scarcity of water, both factors may influence the species abundance and reproduction. The species T. miliaris fits into the classification summer species with a shorter breeding season (sensu Bertoluci, 1998). Despite

several specimens observed vocalizing on exposed rocks from September to May, tadpoles and gravid females were observed only in the rainiest months (December, January and February). A similar pattern was observed for S. littoreus. This species could extended its breeding season from August to May but tadpoles, amplectant pairs and egg clutches were observed only from October to March. Males vocalized almost during the whole year, except for the months of June and July. According to the gathered data, summer species with longer breeding sea-son is the classification proposed for S. littoreus (sensu Bertoluci, 1998).

This study represents a framework of a rocky sea-shore amphibian community. The approach used is mainly descriptive and the knowledge on these commu-nities is still reduced due the lack of studies. Probably, other environmental factors (e.g., wind speed, moon phase, humidity and chemical conditions of the water-tank) are influencing aspects as breeding season, spatial and temporal distribution or number of calling males of amphibian species. Observations indicated a reduction of vocalization by anurans during full moon. Furthermore, in windy nights the same condition was observed. Never-theless, more long-term studies on amphibian’s commu-nity in rocky seashores approaching these variables must be conducted to improve our comprehension of the rela-tions between amphibians and bromeliads in these habi-tats.

5. Material Examined

Brazil: Rio de Janeiro State: Niterói Municipality: Pedra de Itacoatiara: Scinax littoreus: MNRJ 59641-46; MNRJ 77526; MNRJ 77521; MNRJ 77516-17 and MNRJ 77521. Thoropa miliaris: MNRJ 58531-44. Scinax cuspidatus: MNRJ 57522-23. Gastrotheca sp.: MNRJ 53591. Scinax aff. eurydice: MNRJ 53594-95. Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the members of Setor de Herpetologia of Museu Nacional/UFRJ and all others who supported us in fieldwork and for identification of the specimens. R. M. Silveira and R. Moura for the help in field work with the bromeliads. The staff of PESET and the surrounding residents for supporting the re-search. To R.R. Pinto and A.R. Martins for their help in the statistical analysis and valuable comments. To INEA and SISBIO IBAMA for issued the scientific activities and finally to CAPES, CNPq and FAPERJ for the finan-cial support to the authors.

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